diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
index a61753b17..f740ddad1 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import os
 import random
 import re
 import socket
+import ssl
 import sys
 import time
 import math
@@ -623,9 +624,12 @@ class InfoExtractor(object):
                 url_or_request = update_url_query(url_or_request, query)
             if data is not None or headers:
                 url_or_request = sanitized_Request(url_or_request, data, headers)
+        exceptions = [compat_urllib_error.URLError, compat_http_client.HTTPException, socket.error]
+        if hasattr(ssl, 'CertificateError'):
+            exceptions.append(ssl.CertificateError)
         try:
             return self._downloader.urlopen(url_or_request)
-        except (compat_urllib_error.URLError, compat_http_client.HTTPException, socket.error) as err:
+        except tuple(exceptions) as err:
             if isinstance(err, compat_urllib_error.HTTPError):
                 if self.__can_accept_status_code(err, expected_status):
                     # Retain reference to error to prevent file object from